Did you think we've forgotten about these? Well, I kinda did. And then forced GeckoZY into co-writing it and checking grammar

Random Sundays 2: Complicating the matters

3 years ago...

[“So, will you be coming back anytime soon, Dima?”]

“Not yet sure. I’ve told you already, they’ve told me to wait for a week for the interview results.”

[“Do you really believe that? Okay, okay, I know, you are just too sure of yourself to not wait. New suggestion then - either you take the first flight out of Moscow next week, or you can even forget that you ever knew me.”]

“Why wait a whole week for that, then?” - Dmitri joyfully shouted into the phone, and turned it off. The trolleybus stopped yet again, letting more people, rushing for the closest subway station, in. With plenty of seats available, Dmitri tried to sleep for a while, hoping that no one will try se--

“Markus! Is... is that really you?!”

~Oh, people, why do you all want to shout next to me?~ - Dmitri tried imagining the scene that was happening inside the trolley at that very moment - but his thoughts were interrupted by someone’s hand holding his shoulder, and an even louder “Markus, wake up!”

“I am sorry if it sounds rude...” - Dmitri slowly opened his eyes and turned to the woman, that was still looking at him in a happy yet slightly confused manner - “But I have no idea who is the ‘Markus’ you are talking about, and not really feel like helping anyone finding someone you’ve confused me with.”

“Oh, so you really didn’t change at all. And I was about to wonder if it’s only look that stayed the same. Speaking of that - really, it may seem weird, but you haven’t changed a bit! So...”

“Once again, I have no idea who is the ‘Markus’ you are talking about!”

“Well, maybe humor did change slightly, your jokes were better.” - said the woman, after a short pause.

“I’ve never been further west than Warsaw, and my name is not Markus! How can I prove that to you?” - Dmitri quickly searched for his passport, and opened it - “Here. Take a look for yourself, if you want to.”

The woman looked in surprise and disbelief on the photograph, then on Dmitri, and back on the pages of passport. Her mind kept telling, that that was the face she saw, the voice she heard and the person she wanted to meet again for a small friendly chat - but names and visas kept proving her wrong. With trembling hands, she handed the passport back to Dmitri, excused for causing trouble with the quiet voice, and quickly got off the trolley that stopped once again.

Scenes like that one kept following Dmitri for the next few years, with people claiming seeing him before in the variety of places and time periods, blaming either bad memory of theirs, or the general Dmitry’s appearance not really standing out in crowd. And as the time passed, these mistakes were getting more and more frequent, becoming just another occasional distraction and were soon forgotten, like his memories.

ALTERNATIVETITLEIDEAWAS“OHNOANOTHERFLASHBACK?!”

You see, Dmitri, there were the times you could NOT resort to lies in the stressful situations! What happened to you, man?!

_________________Yes, that is about the best thing to write that I could think of.

Sam was still busy, thinking about the Subject. He was still hungry, losing his appetite while having his brunch. The thought of the Subject somehow escaping or hiding, possibly with aid from a conflicting organization, was stressing him to his limits. ~We're pretty sure that he has ridden a train to Moscow. We've at least intercepted that amount of information.~

Sam looked out of the window and saw a snow covered landscape with pine covered mountains that stretched many miles away. The sun was slowly setting, giving a nice effect to the surroundings. It provided an orange glow over the now darkening landscape.

~I better take a walk around the train, this view is disturbing me...~

The man exited his room and locked it. He continued with walking down the train as he looked for a quiet isolated place he can think. As he was walking down the corridor, he noticed that same room making some more noise again.

Some muffled voices and occasional growls and barks filled the passageway in front of the room. Occasional crashes and bumps could be heard, something that could make the conductor jump into the room with tranquilizers and stop the commotion.

"I thought you've wanted some more scratching, this is for my sticky face this morning."

"Ahh, stop!" A loud growl could be heard, easily suppressed by a burst of laughter. Whimpers now dominate the flurry inside as apparently the victim’s apparent doom is imminent. "Help!"

As Sam walked towards the door at the edge of the train car, the voices turned into just plain rambling with an occasional sharp laughter and screaming.

"Must have gotten a new pet, I remember doing something similar when a few years ago." Sam thought about his trip with his friend in New York a year ago.The man continued walking, passing through the connecting cars until he reached the buffet car. The buffet car was packed with people. It was almost dinner and there were several children and pets are playing around. The smell of food completely filled the car and various delicacies lined the bar tables located in one side of the car. The people at the dining table happily chattered as they dined and several pets were joining them in their conversations or forming their own groups.

~Do you want to make yourself hungrier? We need a silent place to think, and not this even noisier spot. You’re really not helping yourself by going here.~

Avoiding the running children and people carrying food to their tables, he exited to the next car and noticed that he had already reached the luggage compartment.

This luggage compartment was filled with the larger objects like boxes, giant suitcases and bags that cannot be brought into the rooms like backpacks or be placed together with the fragile and goods cars. The things were arranged neatly and sorted into groups. On one side the boxes were lined up, some wood, some carton and some are oddly metal; while on the other side the briefcase, instrument case and some other bulky items like golf bags and huge duffel bags were collected. At the end of the cart there were the mail bags, as trains were the backbone of the snail mail network.

The dead silence was broken by a beep from Sam’s phone. He answered his phone, as, being in the last compartment, he felt fairly secure. A dark shadow now stared at him from one of the mail bags, interested with the visitor.

"Hello, any updates on the status of the Subject?"

The man paced back and forth through the car as he was being given updates on the situation.

"So, you still haven't found the Subject in Vladivostok, too. We need to capture him. Keep looking, I'm pretty sure he's heading back to Moscow. You can start checking ferries, or maybe even busses."

He put down his phone which gave another beep, signalling the end of the call. He placed it back into his pocket. He gave out a short sigh.

"Still no progress..."

Clearly even the silence of the area was disturbing him, any slight movement of the luggage felt like a drum as the objects jiggled from the rattling. The man was about to walk back to his room when...

"Mrreeooowww!!!" A claw ripped a small tear on his pants’ leg.

He realized that a cat was hiding in the bags; he had accidentally stepped on its tail.

"Get off my tail!!! Ouch, you're heavy!" Several more swipes caused a several more cuts on the other pants’ leg.

Sam grabbed the cat by the scruff and raised her to eye level. Realizing that the cat must have overheard his conversation (and it didn't seem to be good that the cat was actually hiding from him, either), he went ahead and questioned her...

"Are you spying on me? Don't even try to lie; I know they've been using a cat network for this sort of stuff."

The cat grinned at the man, just giving him her best puppy dog... err... kitten eyes...

---

In the other car, the husky was lying on the floor after experiencing what was a mix of pure horror and euphoria. The excessive tickling and scratching made him too tired to move a single muscle.

Dmitri, happy with his accomplishment of finally making the dog suffer a bit, rested on the seat, slowly drinking the dog's orange soda.

"Hey, that's mine! I need those!" - shouted Grey, while trying to reach for the shiny can with his paw. Alas, Dmitri was too far away from him, and the only reward the dog got was a silly looking man with his tongue sticking out.

"Sorry, but I guess I won this time."

"You're gonna regret this... Soon, soon... I shall give you the worst day of your life... Something, that your descendants will remember for eter--" - The half-empty can nearly slipped out of shocked man’s hand, when the perfectly set up dramatic moment was ruined by unexpected grumble of husky’s stomach.

"Oh, please, don't tell me you're hungry again."

"Hey, I'm a growing dog! I need some food, after all."

Dmitri wanted to disagree with the fact that the “growing dog” needed more food after feeling all his weight, but, unwilling to wash the face again, said just "Okay, okay. Let's go..."

The man stood up, placed the can of soda on the table and slid the door open.

"So, are you coming?"

"Why of course I'm coming! I... I just need a bit of help here… with standing up."

"Oh, I’m sorry. I just thought that a growing dog should be able to carry himself by now."

"I will never forget this." - growled Grey in response, while crawling towards the door.

A minute or two later, he finally managed to get back on his paws, and began walking after the man, still trying to catch up.

"Hey! Slow down!"

Dmitri looked back, only to give Grey a sly grin. Seeing, that the husky slowly began recovering, he sped up, and was now running across the carriage.

"So... You think I can't catch you? You got it wrong, so wrong..."

The dog gave himself a bit of a stretch and a couple of back cracks, getting ready to dash through the train, and to catch Dmitri before he even manages to reach for the door.

Not so much happened here, copper, to tell the truth he lied. This part is kinda slowly developing. For now. I guess.

===Anyone saw the stone I threw at Gecko for that lame pun, by the way?

File 9: Close Encounters of a Second Kind

Dmitri was a few steps away from the door that was leading to the buffet car. He began reaching the door handle with his hand. He was about to shout something to the dog, who was still running behind him. His plans crashed into the floor of the car #6, along with himself, when Grey finally caught up with him, and grabbed onto one of his legs. The man momentarily lost all of his balance, and ended up on the dusty carpet that was running along the narrow passage in the carriage, while the happy dog walked over him and, after 'unintentionally' stepping on both his hands, stopped next to the door and turned back to Dmitri with a happy smile.

“Sorry, but I guess I won this time!” - he said, trying to copy Dmitri's voice as closely as he could, while the man was shaking the dust off his clothes.

“Ha-ha, you got me this time. But be ready for a rematch anytime soon!”

“Whenever you wish to do so. Now get the rest of this dust off you, and try to pretend that you were not running like crazy through the train a few moments ago.”

~He will get a rematch sooner than he expects. He-he-heh...~ - Thought Dmitri, opening the door to the buffet car.

They stepped inside. The car was becoming more and more crowded. - “Oh, come on, where are all the empty seats? I can't see a-”

“Look, there are two seats back there! I'll take the sofa!” - Grey wagged his tail excitedly and ran towards the small empty table at the far end of the carriage, leaving Dmitri trying to squeeze through the crowds of other passengers. who were queuing at the counter to order their dinner. Finally, he reached the table where the husky was already reading the local menu. Judging by his face, he was not really excited with it. Eventually, they made their choices and Dmitri, not trusting the dog, went to the counter to make their order. He was told to wait at his table and that was exactly what he did - Makarov’s leg was still slightly throbbing from the earlier fall.

“Okay, we need to wait a little bit for the food to be cooked, But I've brought you a glass of water - just to add some variety to your soda drinking!”

---

Sam looked into the cat's face for a few moments and then began laughing.

“Do you really expect to get away from me using this old trick? Come on, quivering watery eyes stopped working a few years ago in the movies. Why would that even work in real life!?”

“Huh, you're a bit better than you were the last time I've seen you, Mister Samuel Adams...”

“Wha-what did you just say?”

“Oh, sir, you look too tough to be scared of hearing your own name! Oh...” The cat's face changed to a more playful expression. “Oh, let me guess... You still remember that-”

“No, no, shut up now!!!”

“-that incident, back in December... Oh, what year was it... can you remind me?”

“I'VE TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP!”

“Okay, I can remember it without you.” -Sam was loosened his grip on the cat. She jumped down on the floor and began to walk slowly around the stunned man - “Oh, yes, it was in 2008, in the small town called--”

“Don't say anything else! Stop, stop! Please, I beg you!”

“Wow, our tough guy is not so tough anyway... I hope you don't want your employer to know this little incident, Mister Adams...”

She looked on the man's face. He was confused and literally lost. Great. Just what she needed.

“So, Mister Adams, you know what? I think I can stay silent in exchange for a small favor...”

He didn’t gave the cat a reply at first, eventually he got a hold of himself. “Well... I guess I'll have to fold to your demands, for now...”

“Great!” - the cat was definitely glad to get a chance to get away from this cold and rough luggage carriage - “Throwing me out of the train won't help you anyways, by the way. We're about to pass through some other city; I can use any phone in there to dial one short number and ruin your career. But I have a job to do in Moscow and you seem to be heading there... Let's strike a deal. I can use the extra bed in your compartment till the end of the line, and in exchange, I'll forget about December 2008 in--”

“OK, OK, I agree, just... Just don't talk or even think about it again!”

“Think about what?” - the cat looked at her new journey partner with a happy look on her face, as she finally she had no need to sleep on these cold envelopes and boxes.

“By the way, Sam, you may want to know my name, since we’re going to travel together for a few more days now... It’s Maria. Quite a beautiful little name, isn’t it?” - she laughed quietly, as the two walked towards the door...

---

Grey was sitting on the small sofa, still annoyed with the bad menu items for tonight.

"Hey, I do drink water you know! Orange soda is just an... occasional drink." - the husky replied, with a grin to Dmitri, who was still busy adjusting the seat for his height.

"So, about that dream of yours... chasing squirrels, I guess? Why? Do you really love to terrorize them?"

Grey didn't reply to Dmitri's question, being distracted by a man who was staring at them. The man was also carrying a cat in his hands, the cat clearly amused at the two.

"Uhm.. Can we help you, guys... err... and gal?” - Grey asked, with his head slightly tilted to the left and one of the eyebrows raised. Stranger shook his head a moment later, like he had just awoken from some sort of a strange daydream.

"Oh, no, I’m sorry about that. It’s your friend over here; he looks awfully familiar. I thought he was my brother's buddy, we haven’t seen each other for a while."

"Oh, okay then" - Grey replied with his normal, happy voice, and as a proof of his sincere joy of meeting new people, the husky’s tail began wagging. The stranger and his cat companion briefly left and took a seat at the other corner of the car.

The husky was still thinking of the stranger, even a few minutes after he had left. The scent... It seemed familiar, familiar like the day when he first met Brunolf, in the wilderness of China, near the border. It was that faint smell then.

~Nah, must have been just a coincidence, and I was quite tired. It can’t be him.~ He switched back to his normal conversation with Dmitri. "Hmm, you might have a doppelganger here. I wonder if his brother's best friend was your clone, by any chance?"

"I think I would have known it, if I had one. That would be nice, at least."

A man with two plates of food approached their table. The fragrance of the wonderfully cooked food emanated from them, filling all the air nearby.

"Hey, look, dinner’s ready!"

ITTOOKSAMONLYTWODAYSTOSEEDMITRI!YAY!

See you all next time on Saturday, and..... and.......We definitely need a fancy substitute for "good bye/good luck, everyone!"

_________________Yes, that is about the best thing to write that I could think of.

Thu Jun 06, 2013 6:35 am

copper

Puppy Wrangler

Joined: Tue Sep 28, 2010 8:18 pmPosts: 6362Location: Florida

Re: Temporal Coincidences

Oh, no need for that. a simple waving of the hands should suffice!

That cat knows Sam well... quite well.

_________________My charactersEverybody has a story to tell. What's yours?

Could cold nuts not freeze free cat cots and end the dull winter wind there?

Hmm... this could be an interesting word play. Anyone with some more sensible sentences?

File 10: A Cat’s Night Out

In the other side of the car, Sam went to the table after ordering a meal for him and the cat. He looked at the cat, who was slouching on her chair.

~Cats, always lazy!~ He thought with tired contempt, then decided that his newfound companion’s nappy time was over. -"Hey, you're gonna pay for your order, right? You ordered the most expensive fish in the menu."

Sam couldn’t help but to facepalm at this. ~I should be more careful with what I say.~ He concluded in his mind.

Sam then started thinking of the way in which he would later explain the substantial amount of expenses on food that 'he' had been making throughout the train ride.

~Maybe I could tell them that I was stressed at the time. They'll understand.~

While Sam was deeply entranced by contemplating this most cunning and well formulated of plans, the cat noticed the man staring at her from across the room and remembered the incident that had transpired a short while before.

-"So, what's wrong with you? Why did you stare at that person, from your voice I can say that you were lying to him."

-"Oh, it was nothing. I was just thinking of something."

"Wait a minute... is he the 'Subject' that you were talking about."- The cat said with a Cheshire grin on her face. -"You looked definitely shocked from seeing him. I think your mouth opened wide enough to fit a whole apple in it."

Sam’s ever brilliant thoughts began focusing on the matter (or should I say “Subject”?) at hand.

~So that’s why I did not find him in the earlier train, he decided to take the next one. Fate has actually been on my side all along; I was just too blind to see it! That would explain that dog, too; I'm pretty sure he was the one in that shop and the one who came down from the train in the last stop! I had a lot of opportunities to get him; I should find a way to do it now! The train seems to be too crowded to extract him now, however. I guess I’ll just wait and try to get them in the next stop.~

Sam, with his trademarked quickness of the senses, felt a claw pinching his hand.

-"Ouch! What did you do that for?"

The cat gave a devilish grin in response. -"You blanked out, and you still haven't answered my question."

-"Okay, since you'll probably find this out sooner or later anyway: Yes, he is the Subject. But I won't answer any other questions from you."

-"Nah, it's fine. I have my ways to extract those answers."- Said the cat, her smile unabated.

Sam, on the other hand, frowned at this remark. -"I really regret stepping on your tail, even though it was an accident."

The cat replied by sticking out her tongue at Sam, though not precisely to lick him, mind you.

Sam, no longer paying attention, as if he ever did to begin with, continued thinking about the incident. He then proceeded to joyously realize that there was something strange about this cat.

~Why didn't she know who the Subject was? She seemed to be well informed of me! She must have been here for a different thing. But what?~

He looked once at the cat, who was busy licking her paws. She seemed excited for the food, as if she hadn't eaten any good food in weeks.

~I better look for something to distract this cat so that I can get to work.~

At that moment, a waitress approached the table with a big salmon, served on top of a perfectly clean plate.

-"My fish is here!"- Uttered the cat with absolute glee.

---

While all these events were transpiring, on the other side of the world, a dog was sitting in a big, by dog standards, swivel chair within a dim office. His dim office. Karl Marks, the German Shepherd, whose name was a play against the philosophy of Karl Marx, was the current head of the Silver Organization; an organization aiming to take over the world through various means ranging from research in biology to materials; by controlling the world’s largest conglomerate, the Silverore Group of Companies; and through political and military connections in almost all countries around the world.

He electronically altered his voice so that nobody would know who he was, especially since he was a dog, who also happened to be controlling the single largest faction in the world. Most people from the company knew him as the company mascot, entering and exiting the headquarters every now and then, all the while greeting the people around him with a warm smile.

His position as the head of the organization was only known to a few close advisors and his friend, Samuel Adams, who was currently working for him as his retrieval specialist. Although theirs was currently a boss-employee relationship, they occasionally spent some time together, playing in a park and travelling through the wilderness when neither of them was at work.

Karl was reading through the reports from one of his latest business schemes when a notification popped up.

~Well, will you look at that! A letter from Sam, let's see if he is making progress.~

He read the letter and, once he was done, spent some time looking at the text.

Finally, he smiled.

He opened a reply window and wrote an encrypted message.

[Hey S., it's nice to know that you have finally made some progress! Hope you can bring the Subject back here, he is one of the most important projects of the company, one of the most invested projects of my father; try bringing him back in one piece. Yeah, I know that we did try to bomb him, but that was part of the plan.

You should have seen the look on my face when I learned that you got stuck with a cat. Hah! I pity you. Just don't tell her about the company card, she'll max that out and probably cause the whole company to go bankrupt! Okay, maybe not. I'm not sure what threat she used to talk you into partnering with her, but you should probably try getting rid of that pest. Try throwing her off the train, or something like that. Your friend and Big Boss (ha!), K.

PS. Cats smell after eating fish! Don't ask how I knew that.]

Karl pressed the “send” button, then leaned back on his chair and swiveled it around.

-"Ahh, I wonder how the world would look like if everything was made of bacon."- Were the thoughts of this outstanding mastermind.

As the minutes went on, the dog kept daydreaming about the things he would be able to do once his Organization fully controlled the world.

CREAKCREAKCREAK-CRASH-TOOMUCHSWIVELING

Okay, in response to VEB's message I will be posting the next few ending messages in other languages (Google translate).

You know, for being such an "expert" on extraction and other covert operations, he is REALLY easily swayed and blackmailed....

This blackmail is a special case. XD

Sam seems to be more of a lone wolf when he works, he expects and prefers minimal interactions. And, given that he wasn't able to get the Subject a number of times, you probably can't blame him for getting easily swayed.

Hehey, Chapter Archive 3 is here! And we're still not getting pretty much anywhere That should change, I say!Archives 3: Smokes and MirrorsFile 1: Phantoms Forgotten

The clock hanging over the wall read six o’clock PM, within the dimly lit room surrounded by several monitors, forming a wall, lining the wide semicircular desk.

Karl was just stretching from his lengthy nap after, apparently, accidentally falling asleep and wandering into a dream. Watching several fireworks in the sky during a trip to New York with his friend, Sam. Visiting several of the famous landmarks there and introducing him to the American culture and, of course, its food. It was a rare occasion, remembering such a vivid dream.

It had been about 2 years before. They really had a lot of fun there: from walking around the major landmarks, entering several theme-parks in the area, to visiting the companies he secretly controlled, as well as a few others he was planning to acquire.

In fact, just that very same month, they had made plans to have a week-long vacation in one of his villas. Relaxing in the pool, doing several water sports, fishing in the nearby lake and playing some water frisbee.

“I will remind him about the trip when he gets back he-” His mobile phone rang. It was already synced to the computer array. He pushed a button on one of his desks to see who was calling him

Seeing the caller ID, he activated the microphone and answered the call. The monitor flashed as Karl began reclining back into his seat.

The electronical voice altering was automatically activated upon the push of the button. His safety was always a priority. “Hello, S.! Any updates?”

The voice of his familiar friend played from the speakers. “I’ve sent some to you through an encrypted message a few hours ago, but you never replied.”

~Whoops, I was sleeping then.~ Thought Karl, hoping that his friend wasn’t making that assumption right now.

”I have found a wonderful opportunity to capture the Subject and took the risk. I’m here at Chita with the extraction team. We have taken the Subject into our custody, the cat and his dog companion are currently restrained in by a separate team.”

Faint sounds of shouts and barks could be heard from the background, drowned by the occasional static.

“Great! That was quick! We need to fly him to the research branch. I’ll send you the location. You can probably send the other two to the intelligence division. They might be able to extract some information from them, especially that cat.”

“I’ll await for the location. Thanks, K.”

“I will be waiting for both of you there. We could probably start our trip early after we fix this. Bye!”

The computer gave off a short bleep, signalling the end of the call.

Karl was happy about the new revelation and excited to meet Sam again. Finally he won’t have to worry much about the Subject, and those other projects. He could just have his much deserved relaxation. Karl leaned forward and pushed another button on the desk - now for his secretary.

Similarly, in his electronically altered voice, he asked the secretary to do some preparations. “Ready the jet. I’ll be leaving for an impromptu meeting.”

---

The next few hours felt like a breeze, it was like he just teleported to the facility. Karl was sitting in the head researcher’s office on one of the sofas, while the owner of the office was reclining in the armchair next to his desk. They were having some tea, discussing the Subject for what seems like hours already.

“So, your plan on capturing the Subject worked out quite nicely, I guess?”

“Yes Doc. It was really helpful in cleansing the organization, but that’s not as important as the fact that we’ve finally retrieved him again.” - Karl quickly looked at the clock, ticking above the wall. - “They were supposed to arrive around 20 minutes ago... What is taking them so long?”

As a response to the dog’s discontent, the intercon beeped once, and a small red light blinked next to one of the buttons. The ‘Doc’ pushed it, and the voice responded through the speaker:

[“Hello sir, they’re here.”]

“Okay, let them in.”

The intercom beeped once again, signalling the end of a short conversation.

The door opened, revealing two figures - Sam and the Subject. The restrained person looked exhausted, probably from his constant shouting and futile escape attempts. He was murmuring something, barely recognisable at a distance - his voice barely audible, but still comprehensible.

“...Why are you doing this to me? Who are you, people?...” Panting like he ran through hundreds of kilometers without rest.

The two moved forward and took a sit in the chairs in front of Karl. The head offered them some tea, but both refused - one didn’t really like tea, and the second was barely able to move at all.

~Oh, Sam, do you even believe yourself?~ - Karl was about to say that, but quickly realised it was a bad time for friendly jokes - “So, how was the trip? You seem a bit late, what happened? And why does the Subject seem so tired?”

The man stopped murmuring, switching to just staring at Karl. It was horrifying - the Subject looked just like an angry cat, minus the claws and hisses - though it was easy to imagine these.

“It was alright, just a small delay due to refueling. The airfield in the area wasn’t really well equipped for the jets, but everything worked out nicely. He was quite loud in the plane, but is seems that he has lost most his voice by now. It was even worse than flying with kids.”

Karl smiled in response, but all the words he wanted to say were literally blown away with ‘Doc’s’ cough - “Guys, you could continue with your chat later. Right now, I need to bring the Subject there, in the lab. We need to run some tests first, then we will dea-”The ‘Doc’ never managed to finish describing his plans on 152C. A small blast outside slightly cracked the wall, attracting the attention of all four in the room. Then, just when they were about to stand up and run, the second, louder bang literally deafened everyone. The slightly weakened wall was torn apart, sending small debris flying all across the office, knocking the clock and paintings off the wall. Some hit Doc and Karl, leaving them lying unconscious on the floor. In a fraction of a second a large, clean and nicely furnished office was torn to piece, with nearly everything broken down, and a thick smoke filling all the free space inside...

Also, why would a rival organization plant a bomb? Very messy and is extremely noticeable...

Wonder what happened to our favorite husky.

I hope this next part will answer those questions.

Filə 2: StaticsYThick smoke filled the air, while debris from what was left of the wall behind the doctor flew through it. The shockwave knocked the occupants of the room off. Karl, covered in small pieces of concrete, metal and glass, was injured from the explosion although not fatally. The other occupants seemed to be still breathing, gasping for air.oA sharp sound resonated from Karl’s ears, he was deafened from the nearby explosion. He felt some pain from his back, and his body felt numb from shock. Two figures, understanding that the semi-closed eyes of a german shepherd was still watching them, walked inside through the newly-made opening in the wall.uThey approached Dmitri and picked him up, before all three faded back into the smoke. From this smoke, one of the shadows stopped, and said in a cold, emotionless voice:g“Your organization did this to itself...”oIt completely faded into the smoke, walking after the other shadows. The doctor, barely capable of moving, reached for a button on his desk and dropped completely onto the floor.tAs his hearing cleared up, he could already hear the sirens sounding, ringing like an alarm clock in the morning.t---a-beep- -beep- -beep- -beep- -beep- -beep- -click-l“Wha...-what was that?”oKarl was still in his office, sweating, seated on his reclining chair, completely intact. He checked the time on the screen - the dog had been sleeping in the last few hours. It all was just a dream...vWHATELSEWEREYOUEXPECTINGFROMUS?XDeFéach tú i an chéad cheann eile ... nóiméad? Dealraíonn sé go bhfuil fadhb theicniúil.

t

h

Whoops! That archive should have been thrown into the furnace a long time ago...Oh look! The actual update. XD

Archives 3: Last Days of Winter

File 1: Sparing No ChangeeThree days later...sThe train trip was getting less and less interesting for Dmitri. He had no inspiration to keep writing his new life, and the stories from the book were completely recycled into the “memories” from his work, which he could tell later to Grey's relatives as soon as they reach Austria to avoid awkward silent moments. He still hoped that they will be able to get the plane tickets to wherever in Austria they were heading- changing trains for three days sounded even worse than just sitting in the same one for nearly nine, especially with his last year’s bad luck. Too much stress with changes, as he would be constantly afraid of getting late, or that some of the tickets would be invalid, or that--e“Good evening, sirs. I guess, you are travelling together?” - asked the conductor, who was quite a charming and nice woman, despite what stereotypes suggest.t“Erm.... Yes, and what's happening? Did we do something wrong?” - Dmitri gently shook Grey's shoulder to wake him up, as the dog was napping already. He wanted to say something to the man, but seeing the conductor made the husky understand that he was not tricked again.r“You know that crazy cat travelling with the man in the compartment next to yours? She's organising the party for all the passengers with pets on this train, and they asked me to spread the word around the train. So, will you be coming?”o“I.... guess so, we barely have anything else to do... Unless you have any other ideas, Grey?”p“What? Oh, yes, that sounds great! We will surely attend!” - replied the dog with a slightly drowsy voice - “Where and when will this party be?”e“In the buffet car, sir. And it will start as soon as we depart from the next station, but you can come slightly earlier if you want to.”s“Great! Thanks you for the information, miss” - Dmitri answered, and started to look for everything they might need for the party.,---r“Come on, Sam, cheer up! The party is going to be a-ma-zing!” - The cat intentionally tried to spell out the last word as long as possible, seeing as Samuel was not really fond of this idea.i“Explaining the sudden surge in the amount of money I spend to my boss will be interesting, too, I promise.”g“Well, I'm sure we're far from bankrupting your company...”h“But asking the best band we have found to play live at the party surely will!”t“You should know that recorded music is not that fun!” - the cat sighed and stood quietly in the middle of the compartment for a minute - “Okay, I can cope with non-live music, but in that case we'll pay for all the drinks and snacks the guests will buy! We don't want to look like some cheapskates, right?”?~I start understanding their reasons to just piling up money... All thanks to cats like this. And drinks will surely cost less than the band. There should not be too much stuff on this train, anyway~m“I can agree on that” - he replied to the happy cat - “but, Mari, can we limit our spendings after this party? We're on the way to firing me from the job for abusing the company card, you know.”a“I'll pity you. Maybe. But the party should go perfect for that!”uSam breathed out in relief. In a few hours he will finally have his rest, which he had definitely earned in the last few days.lAt the same moment, the train crawled out of the station, moving westwards, into the old Ural mountains. The cat squeaked in the excitation, grabbing Sam by his hand, and the two hurried into the buffet car to welcome all the guests of the party with some boring recorded music, and, if the mood would be right, a small speech.eNOTHINGEVERGOESWRONGWHENONEPARTYSRIGHT?dProchaine mise à jour sera publié le Samedi. Les lecteurs qui portent des torches et de fourches en ce moment peuvent revenir ce jour-là à la place.

Grey and Dmitri were walking through the corridors of the train, heading towards the buffet car where a crowd of pets and their owners were gathering around the door.

"I wonder who's actually throwing a party... Isn't it quite unusual to just invite everyone, even the pets?" Grey looked at Dmitri, who seemed a bit distracted by the crowd.

"Wha-? Sorry, That is a lot of people for me... They must have just won the lottery and are having their first spending spree."

The Husky looked at the man, wagging his tail vigorously.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I think I am." - the man grinned in response.

"Eating spree!!" They shouted simultaneously as the husky marched into the crowd with Dmitri trailing behind, not willing to be left again. Upon entering the buffet car, a familiar song hit their ears as a live band played it on a makeshift platform. Assorted snacks and sandwiches were lining the counter and various drinks were being served at the bar.

"Ooh, orange soda!" exclaimed the husky, with his tongue stuck out. The other guests held him from rushing to the glasses at full speed. That let Dmitri, not without some effort, stop Grey from advancing any further towards them.

"Oh no, you don't! You snore when you drink too much, remember?! You'll get some later in the party, but with moderation. For now, just go get some sandwiches."

Before the husky could start getting some snacks, the music stopped and a familiar gray cat appeared on the stage with a microphone.

---

Sam was sitting near the stage, holding a couple of sandwiches and a fruit punch. He had no interest in what was going on around him, other than the Subject. He was still planning everything, planning on how to avoid that compulsive spending cat, to abduct the subject and, somehow, avoid detection from the husky that was constantly near him. ~It will be simple, right? How can it go wrong? Even if something happens, it should be easy to fix~

The music stopped as the gray cat stepped up on stage and tapped the microphone lightly a few times, just to see if it worked.It made a creaking sound as it turned on, making the room fall silent for the cat's "introductory talk" .

"Testing, testing... Okay, it sounds good now."

The cat looked at all the party goers, who were frozen in place, staring back at her.

"Thank you for coming to this party! I would like to say hello, and that..."

Sam took his phone out of a pocket and started pushing some buttons in a random pattern, typing in his password.

~She can handle that, I’m sure. It would be better to continue with planning, and make up some praises to her speech for later.~

He looked for the map application and double checked the train schedule. ~It seems that we'll be stopping at Perm, Nizhny Novgorod and Ivanovo next.~ Sam stared out of the window, thinking of the advantages of some of the plans and where they would be best implemented. ~Hmm... Ivanovo would be too close to Moscow to be any good. I'll probably go with Perm or Nizhny Novgorod.~ - his thoughts were slightly disturbed by the cheering crowd - ~Whoa, I forgot about the party... Well, maybe it’s really a sign that I have to try and enjoy this party. I’ve done enough already, and probably deserve a little bit of rest, even though I haven't progressed much in the past two days.~

Sam felt a tug on his arms as he was pushed onto the stage by some of the nearby party-goers. The crowd went silent as Maria passed the microphone to Sam.

"Uhm... thanks for coming guys and gals and everyone! I don't really have much to say..." ~Sam, think! Think of something to say!~ "..I could probably say that I'm throwing this party because I have accomplished something in my job. Don't want to elaborate on it, because, I assure you- it will be boring." - much to Sam’s surprise, some of the guests laughed for a little - "I should probably pass back this microphone to Maria. See you!"

Sam passed by the cat and gave her a discontented stare. The cat stuck out her tongue in a silent response,before grabbing the microphone and coming back on the stage.

"So everyone, before we both bore you to death, I would like to say just one more little thing......Let the Party Begin!!"

The crowd cheered, and the band started playing some repetitive, yet popular, pop music. A number of pets crowded the counters, eager to get sandwiches, while some of the people started dancing on the center of the car.

The cat sat down near Sam. "Hey! You better start mingling with the crowd, the party is a blast!"

Maria grabbed the man's arms and they both faded in the sea of dancing people.YESJOINTHEPARTY!NOIMEANTHEOTHERPARTY!THEONEONTHETRAIN!

Uvidíme se příští úterý! Boje budou brzy, copper. Možná.

_________________Yes, that is about the best thing to write that I could think of.

Last edited by VEB152 on Sun Jun 16, 2013 5:01 am, edited 1 time in total.

Sat Jun 15, 2013 9:25 am

copper

Puppy Wrangler

Joined: Tue Sep 28, 2010 8:18 pmPosts: 6362Location: Florida

Re: A3F2 Join The Party!

VEB152 Wrote:

Due to several (mis)coincidences, as well as my overall absent-mindness, this update is both late and probably lacking attention in checking. I mean, I've tried my best, but it will be replaced by a, probably, better-revised version when Silly Zealot and Gecko manage to break away from all the problems they may or may not have!

===File 2: Join the Party

Grey and Dmitri were walking through the corridors of the train, heading towards the buffet car where a crowd of pets and their owners were gathering around the door.

"I wonder who's actually throwing a party... Isn't it quite unusual to just invite everyone, even the pets?" Grey looked at Dmitri, who seemed a bit distracted by the crowd.

"Wha-? Sorry, That is a lot of people for me... They must have just won the lottery and are having their first spending spree."

The Husky looked at the man, wagging his tail vigorously.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I think I am." - the man grinned in response.

"Eating spree!!" They shouted simultaneously as the husky marched into the crowd with Dmitri trailing behind, not willing to be left again. Upon entering the buffet car, a familiar song hit their ears as a live band played it on a makeshift platform. Assorted snacks and sandwiches were lining the counter and various drinks were being served at the bar.

"Ooh, orange soda!" exclaimed the husky, with his tongue stuck out. The other guests held him from rushing to the glasses at full speed. That let Dmitri, not without some effort, stop Grey from advancing any further towards them.

"Oh no, you don't! You snore when you drink too much, remember?! You'll get some later in the party, but with moderation. For now, just go get some sandwiches."

Before the husky could start getting some snacks, the music stopped and a familiar gray cat appeared on the stage with a microphone.

---

Sam was sitting near the stage, holding a couple of sandwiches and a fruit punch. He had no interest in what was going on around him, other than the Subject. He was still planning everything, planning on how to avoid that compulsive spending cat, to abduct the subject and, somehow, avoid detection from the husky that was constantly near him. ~It will be simple, right? How can it go wrong? Even if something happens, it should be easy to fix~

The music stopped as the gray cat stepped up on stage and tapped the microphone lightly a few times, just to see if it worked.It made a creaking sound as it turned on, making the room fall silent for the cat's "introductory talk" .

"Testing, testing... Okay, it sounds good now."

The cat looked at all the party goers, who were frozen in place, staring back at her.

"Thank you for coming to this party! I would like to say hello, and that..."

Sam took his phone out of a pocket and started pushing some buttons in a random pattern, typing in his password.

~She can handle that, I’m sure. It would be better to continue with planning, and make up some praises to her speech for later.~

He looked for the map application and double checked the train schedule. ~It seems that we'll be stopping at Perm, Nizhny Novgorod and Ivanovo next.~ Sam stared out of the window, thinking of the advantages of some of the plans and where they would be best implemented. ~Hmm... Ivanovo would be too close to Moscow to be any good. I'll probably go with Perm or Nizhny Novgorod.~ - his thoughts were slightly disturbed by the cheering crowd - ~Whoa, I forgot about the party... Well, maybe it’s really a sign that I have to try and enjoy this party. I’ve done enough already, and probably deserve a little bit of rest, even though I haven't progressed much in the past two days.~

Sam felt a tug on his arms as he was pushed onto the stage by some of the nearby party-goers. The crowd went silent as Maria passed the microphone to Sam.

"Uhm... thanks for coming guys and gals and everyone! I don't really have much to say..." ~Sam, think! Think of something to say!~ "..I could probably say that I'm throwing this party because I have accomplished something in my job. Don't want to elaborate on it, because, I assure you- it will be boring." - much to Sam’s surprise, some of the guests laughed for a little - "I should probably pass back this microphone to Maria. See you!"

Sam passed by the cat and gave her a discontented stare. The cat stuck out her tongue in a silent response,before grabbing the microphone and coming back on the stage.

"So everyone, before we both bore you to death, I would like to say just one more little thing......Let the Party Begin!!"

The crowd cheered, and the band started playing some repetitive, yet popular, pop music. A number of pets crowded the counters, eager to get sandwiches, while some of the people started dancing on the center of the car.

The cat sat down near Sam. "Hey! You better start mingling with the crowd, the party is a blast!"

Maria grabbed the man's arms and they both faded in the sea of dancing people.YESJOINTHEPARTY!NOIMEANTHEOTHERPARTY!THEONEONTHETRAIN!

Uvidíme se příští úterý! Boje budou brzy, copper. Možná.

There you go, a very quick edit... sorry, I am dead tired right now, so it is not perfect or great or anything, but it is a start.

_________________My charactersEverybody has a story to tell. What's yours?

Grey was one of the dogs crowding the counter, trying to get hold of a sandwich as desperately as a shareholder trying to get an investment in Wall Street. He was able to grab a couple of them and proceeded to push his way back away from the fuzzy (in more than one way) crowd.

~Yeah! Ham and egg sandwich! I haven't tasted ham for a whi-~ His unfathomable glee at his non Kosher meal was suddenly interrupted when he bumped into a nearby party-goer.

Grey tripped down and fell to, as one would expect, the floor, dropping his sandwiches and landing on the doberman he had bumped with. A man in his late 20s aided both of the dogs, demonstrating people in their twenties are not all bad.

-"Sorry about my friend here, he's kinda clumsy.”- Said the man. -“I'm Emmerich Faust, but you can call me Rick, while the Doberman is-"

-"Alfons Meister,”- Interrupted the Doberman, with a palpable sense of offense. -”or Al, and I don't need your help, I'm okay."- The Doberman gave an angry stare at Grey as soon as he finished the sentence.

Grey was immediately terrified. The doberman's eyes almost seemed to emanate a horrifying light, a light that seemed to show a pure hatred to the world and all living things, which, in my humble opinion, probably meant that Al was a teenager, an internet addict, the owner of a major company, or a combination of the three.

-"Nevermind him, he gets a bit rude when he’s talking to strangers. Though, he sometimes opens up with a bit of orange so-""Hey, Wonfuy-, I mean Rick, stop that! I need to get some drinks, and you're still annoying me!"

-"I could get the drinks for you."- Said Grey, wagging his tail merrily.

-"Thanks, uhm... what's your name?"

-"Grey, Grey Bachs."

-"Thanks Grey!"- Was the astoundingly eloquent exchange that ensued the proposition.

The husky headed for the drinks bar. Several cups filled with beverages of various kinds lined it, with assorted fruits floating inside each drink. Remembering Rick's last comment, he took three cups of orange soda from the table, and headed back towards the pair.

-"I hope this will lighten him up. He must just be a bit hot headed. I should probably get some sandwich, too. Brunolf can probably entertain himself around the crowd for a while."- Murmured the husky.

Grey returned to the spot where he had left the two unusual fellows. Unexpectedly (for him, anyway), he was met only by an empty spot, both man and Doberman already long gone.

~Must have been in a hurry. Now, what do I do with these three cups of soda?~

---

Grey was almost correct about “Brunolf” (That’s Dmitri’s alias, in case you were not paying attention.). He had a nice time, pretending that he could dance, while no one was really paying attention to him, and he did not even mind the repetitiveness of the music, which had begun to play even louder than before. He even tried talking to some of the guests, but with little success - most of them were too busy having fun with everyone else. Talk about being the dateless guy at the inaugural ball, am I right? In this huge crowd of partying pets and their owners, he was nearly as lonely as in the Chinese forest around a week before.

~OK, don't get yourself bothered with that, use this time to remember how to dance, at least! When Grey comes back, you don't want to look like a fool, do you? Speaking of Grey, hope he doesn't forget about me, since having a sandwich is not such a bad idea...~ His thoughts started to wander.

A couple (maybe more, or less - they were too similar to each other to actually figure out when one of them ended and the other one began) more songs came to pass, and Grey still had not come back. ~Maybe he's found someone to talk to... Maybe I've become boring for him...~ - Dmitri thought, while getting to the nearest table, to grab some sandwiches. Most of them had already been taken by other guests, but he still managed to grab the closest one to him, and went to the edge of the ever so dense crowd of people and pets, in order to finally enjoy his snack.

The sandwich, which was made of chicken, by the way, didn't last long, and Dmitri began looking for Grey as soon as he had finished, as he was already slightly worried about him disappearing all of a sudden, and he could swear that he had seen a familiar patch of fur around a corner, somewhere. He began walking around, trying to get through the crowd as carefully as it was humanly (Or physically, since there were also pets around.) possible, and in a minute he finally got to the other side of the buffet car.

Grey was really there, with a half-eaten sandwich in one paw, and an empty glass in the other, which still had a small piece of orange fruit in its bottom. Two more had been carefully placed next to him by someone else. Husky didn't seem to be worried about it, however, as he was simply too busy enjoying his sleep.

Dmitri glanced upon the clock on the wall, which said it was nearly 11 o'clock in the evening. That could have been quite a nice time to fall asleep in any other situation.

~Great, looks like our party is over now.~. He tried waking the dog up, but all his attempts were useless (He did not try becoming a prince and giving him a true love kiss, though. Maybe that would have done the trick?) - he even seemed to start hearing the dog snoring, in spite of everything. That could only mean that he would have to carry Grey back to their compartment on his own.

Ten minutes later, an exhausted Dmitri finally got the dog on his coach, and climbed back up on his. He was about to fall back asleep, but then decided to write a short note to his companion first.

[Grey! I'd like to ask you for 2 favours.

1) Don't wake me up this morning. I am too tired to do anything, anyway, and my back will surely ache for a couple of days now.

2) Follow my advice on not drinking too much soda. I had to carry you back here after you've had 3 glasses (you could have shared it with me, by the way!)

As soon as I wake up we can share the stories from the party. We left at 11, but I hope you have something to tell, anyway. Everything was quite boring for me, but at least the sandwiches were quite nice. Judging by the crowd of guests around them, I was not the only one who thought so.

P.S. Could you accidentally stop being a growing dog? I could barely get you back here, and if you will keep growing this week, I'll need some help, hehehe]

He placed the note on the table, along with the second sandwich he took during the party, and fell asleep despite the snoring dog below him.

On this guy’s defense, however, there wasn’t any mini fridge to store the sandwich.

Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 2:48 amPosts: 1497Location: The land of the dulce de leche!

Re: Temporal Coincidences

copper Wrote:

Well.... looks like they'll never see those two guys again.

A lot of 4th wall breaking in this story, eh?

We (or at least I) are trying to give the narrator a life of it's own. Some sardonic character that sees everyone in the story with utter contempt, sort of a "The Princess Bride" movie (Which I never saw.) or "The Bard's Tale" video game (Which has a bit of influence from The Princess Bride.) kinda narrator.

What do you think of that? Too much? Too little? Not quite?

_________________20th century fox? Given that this is the year 2015, that fox must be dead by now. Sadface! : (

I'm telling you, hyenas ARE canines too! Many biologists died to bring us this information! Why won't you honor their deaths?! What I did to their families?!

Tue Jun 18, 2013 10:24 pm

copper

Puppy Wrangler

Joined: Tue Sep 28, 2010 8:18 pmPosts: 6362Location: Florida

Re: Temporal Coincidences

Honestly? I wouldn't try it... this is not the kind of story for it, and that is really hard to pull off well. It is kind of distracting to the story, and I did not think this was supposed to be a comedy. It is a wonderful idea to try and you are making a good effort, but maybe try it for comedic purposes only at a later time?

_________________My charactersEverybody has a story to tell. What's yours?

Tue Jun 18, 2013 10:29 pm

Silly Zealot

Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 2:48 amPosts: 1497Location: The land of the dulce de leche!

Re: Temporal Coincidences

You know that this story is semi-serious, at the very best, and has no shortage of interruptions to the drama.

_________________20th century fox? Given that this is the year 2015, that fox must be dead by now. Sadface! : (

I'm telling you, hyenas ARE canines too! Many biologists died to bring us this information! Why won't you honor their deaths?! What I did to their families?!

Thanks for an honest ideas and opinion, copper and Silly Zealot! I guess we should just try to be more careful from now on with "nterruptions"? Though, yes, there is no lack of them already... Let's just try sticking to the route we're going now?

===

File 4: Party ‘till You Drop

A few minutes earlier...

The man was enjoying the party. The cat, Maria, eventually let go of him after noticing some oddly coloured cat in the crowd. Sam joined the crowd and started dancing at the beat of the music. After his short attempt to create some rhythmic body movements, he started talking to a couple of other attendees over some sandwiches.

"So you're with your pet here. Name’s Alfons, right? Where is he? He doesn't seem to be tagging along with you."

"He's not really my pet, but more like a partner. He's kind of an introvert - you know, hates the crowds and everything - but he's in there somewhere. Probably getting something from the drinks bar."

"So what breed is he aga-"

Once again, and probably even too frequently, Sam got interrupted. That time by the loud crashing sound, a quiet short whimper, and several surprised exclamations, coming from the snack bar area.

"I'll be right back, Sam. Looks like he has ran into somebody again."

"Okay, I’ll be there."

Sam watched the man helping doberman and husky back to their feet.

~That husky seems to be the Subject's companion... That means that doberman must be the his pet, or how did he say? Partner.~

He kept treading around the party, keeping an eye on the husky. He got some occasional greetings from the party goers passing by, as well as rarer wavings from the dancing pets. He just kept an eye on the trio, trying not to get distracted at least now.

~Hey look, the husky left.~ His eyes started following the husky who broke off the group. ~Must be getting some drinks for them... Oh, by the way, where are they?~

The man looked back at the spot where he parted ways with two partners.

~They're gone! How did they do that?! I was between them and the exit all the time!~

The husky eventually reached that spot as well, and looked around the crowd. Sam was about to get close to the dog, when a voice popped up from behind.

"Hey, stop working at last, and enjoy the party! Didn’t I tell you to start socializing at least here?"

The man turned around, just to see Maria, accompanied by three cats, that were hanging around the counter, drinking some punch.

"I was socializing, but then that husky bumped over the friend of the person I've been talking to, and--"

"Yeah, yeah, yadda, yadda, I know that excuse already. You still need to loosen up. Hey, look - even that husky is having some fun!"

The man looked back at the husky. A crowd of pets gathered around him, while he was attempting to sing along with the music, while dancing and holding a cup of soda.

"I bet that that husky can dance better than you. Looks like even your “Subject” friend is a much more enjoyable person than you."

"Okay, first thing's first - that husky is not dancing, but mostly wobbling around the same spot. Second, I learned a bit of dancing when I was still in college. And finally, don't talk about my work out loud."

The cat walked towards the, apparently, dancing husky. She grabbed a sandwich from the counter and threw it to the dog.

"Hey, dog, nice dancing! Catch this!"

The dog cautiously limped towards the cat and caught the sandwich. After quickly dealing with wrapping, he took a bite off it.

"Thanksss! Oohh, Hamm ann' Eggsss."

He took another sip from the soda, and eventually collapsed into a nearby seat.

"That's how you're supposed to party - party ‘till you drop!" - said Maria to Sam, who was still standing still at his place. Then he looked back at the husky, contemplating on what he saw. A plan lit up in his mind.

~The dog can't seem to handle his sodas. That's easily one problem out of the list. Heh, I didn't even need to study him closely, as expected.~

He looked at the crowd, noticing that Maria came back to her new friends, drinking some more punch. Laughter and chatter was still heard from there, despite the noise and distance.

~The night is still fresh... Maybe I should just take the opportunity, and have a bit of fun, as she said.~

The smell of sandwiches filled the air as a new batch was served at the counter. A crowd of pets rushed in to take a couple more, while the repetitive pop music kept playing restlessly at the background.

~Okay, I’d better suggest some better songs for them to play. Something... more fitting for the occasion.~

The full moon was high above the horizon, lightening up the fields of the surrounding wilderness, as a train passed through the countryside, heading for its next destination.

---

A man and a dog was sitting face to face in one of the dark compartments of the train.

"We almost gave ourselves away! We should stop talking to these people, don’t you agree?! If one of them learns that we're still alive and well, they'll probably hunt us down and capture us, trust me!"

"You know... you definitely should lighten up. The only reason why you made that mistake is because you weren't socializing enough. You know that we must blend in with the crowd and not stick out like a sore thumb."

“Hmmph”

The man laid down on his bed, staring up on the ceiling.

"You know, even though you're a bit older than me, you're actually acting more childish between the two of us. Makes me wonder whether you're really the first one."

The man was met with silence. He started thinking about the things that they need to do.

~I wonder how we'll contact him. Or, maybe, should we contact him at all? Does he even know his current situation, that he’s a lone piece, in the middle of a silent war?~

A small slither of moonlight peeked through the narrow gap in the curtains revealing what looked like a small office, filled with several computers and servers. A faint buzz could be heard from the devices as they churned away, searching for vital connections and data in the darker, older portions of the web of information called the Internet.YESWECAMEBACKINTIMEONLYTOGIVEYOUMOREMARIAANDSAM!

File 5: Four AM, Really LostHIt didn't take long before the initial exhaustion weared off Dmitri, and he was awoken from his quite a short sleep by the snoring Grey, along with the slightly shaking railway car, both acting up in conjunction once again. Having nothing else to do, he kept thinking about finishing his “biography”. Now, as the train moved rapidly towards Moscow, he just needed to connect his imaginary life as Brunolf with that of his real self - Dmitri Makarov. So far, his tale told of how Blue Wings Airlines was bringing Brunolf, tired of living in European Union, to Moscow, nearly getting late for the eastbound flight. He went as far away as he could, without caring to fill any additional paperwork. There was nothing of importance left for him- an imaginary girlfriend had broken up with him during an argument in a made-up cafe somewhere in Berlin, he had quitted his job a week before departing, and he had just enough money saved to live for half a year, giving him time to look for a proper job. IHe had gone to the city, rented an apartment, and in a couple of months, he managed to get himself a fairly decent job. He found some new friends, who used to call him Dmitri, which was unrelated to his 'real' name, but was easy enough for everyone to spell. He actually liked this part - that way, he could safely meet anyone he knew in Moscow without having to make up a lot of poorly improvised explanations. And everything else was just an ordinary routine of everyday life, until one year before, when the company he was working for was bought by a bigger, international corporation, and his employment became redundant. That was where his old engineering degree came into play. He got a job in a local office of the Euroliner company, and two months later, he finally became part of a group of inspectors, who were going to one of the company’s hangars in China to check if their planes were being properly maintained.NAnd the rest, as they say, was history. Great. TDmitri re-read the story he’d just finished once again. It seemed quite natural to him - there were no obvious mistakes or inconsistencies, as far as he could tell, and he was really willing to believe this whole tale himself...SThe train kept going on, as Brunolf's thoughts did. He was trying to review his life as much as he could, but all his attempts were limited to the last four years. One of his first memories was a hospital in some city, the names of both hospital and city he could not or just didn’t bother to recall either. He had been told that he was one of the few survivors of a horrible car pileup. He had been lucky enough to be in the least damaged car, and his only injury was a mildly broken leg, which kept him inside the hospital for around one month and a half. His memory however, was a far greater problem, as he could not remember anything from before the crash. He was made to look at thousands of photographs, read through tons of letters and notes he wrote, but it never helped. He was told that he knew English and German before the crash, but he could barely remember a single word from these languages. Three months later, he was allowed to leave the hospital, after he had listened and looked through what little documentation of his previous life there was.HHe kept thinking about that weird, albeit brief, period of his life, which had nonetheless been troubling him for since. It was like a huge plot hole, left by an inattentive writer in the middle of a very lengthy story, and that was intentionally untouched by everyone else in order to allow for something to come out and fill that hole by itself before selling it. But what if his own life had really been just scribbles on someone else's sheet of paper? What if Dmitri's life had been just as imaginary? What if he had been given someone else’ name, and all the people who knew the real Dmitri had simply been told that he was suffering from memory loss, and that it was natural for him not to remember any of them? ENo, that was pure nonsense! All those photographs that he had taken, in all those places he had been... It would be too difficult to fake so many of them!, And even if they had, indeed, been forged, they would not have been given to him, anyway! Of course, it was just his imagination, bereft on creating yet another fantasy story, right after finishing the previous one...3As Dmitri kept on trying to make sense, in vain, of course, of how his life had led up to that point, the train was slowing down before stopping in Perm - one of the last few stations on the way. At that very same moment, all the monotonous snoring that had been coming non-stop from the lower bed seemed to stop, which could mean only one thing - Grey was awakening. Dmitri quickly hid his note book under his pillow and pretended to be asleep, waiting for the husky to see the note and the breakfast that had been left for him.X~Hope I won't be woken up by getting licked again~ - he thought, right before actually falling asleep for real.

And now we're one more step closer to answering copper's question, again

File 6: A Dark Morning

Four bunk beds were connected to the two opposite walls of a small cell in an underground facility in Germany. On the back wall, there was a simple toilet, a sink and a mirror. A table stood in the middle of the room, with a tray emptied of any past contents. Two men were locked inside the cell. One of them was seating on one of the beds and the other was standing near the cell door, shouting.

“Hey! What are you doing to us?! You shouldn’t chain us up, like animals! We’re humans and we are supposed to be free!”

“Calm down A, we shouldn’t struggle. I think it’s best to just plan our escape rather than wasting it on shouting through this prison. You have been shouting since time immemorial, even before they stuck us into this single cell.”

Two years has passed ever since they were supposed to be terminated because of their initial attempt to escape the research facility. They wanted to have freedom after learning about the outside world from the scientists they’ve talked with and realizing that they didn’t have as much freedom as it seemed. But instead of termination, they have been secretly taken in by a more sinister sub-branch of the research arm, the sub-branch where the more ominous experiments were performed. The kind of experiments that could give nightmares to the higher echelons. As a result, they never cared to even know the schemes that were created in there.

A door at the other end of the cells creaked open. A man, wearing a white coat, with white hair and thick glasses, entered the room. He was accompanied by two security escorts bearing several restraining devices. He stepped in front of the cell and stared at the two.

“Hello 152A and 152B” he said, smiling at the two men, while adjusting his glasses. “It was fun hearing your conversation from inside the lab. Don’t you remember that everything in here is under my surveillance?” He waved back at the door, which slammed shut just moments later. “You know, I was wondering about your comment over there, ‘treating you like animals...’, what if I were to tell you, that I can finally make that statement true? I need a gift for the boss, he is currently looking for a pet dog.”

“What do you mean “you can make it true”? What dog?”

The man nodded to the two security escorts. They held out their guns, and fired the tranquilizers at the two cellmates. As their vision darkened, the man opened the cell doors and stepped closer to A.

“You know, 152A, I think you would be the best one for this little experiment. It should blow your mind. I would like you to rest for a while. I’m pretty sure it won’t hurt... ...I guess.”

“Curse... you...” ~I can’t fight the drowsiness...~ - A thought, as his head and arm struck the ground.

The man promptly moved away. He motioned at the guards, saying something that never registered in A’s mind. His vision blackened completely, and he fell asleep.

---

“Augh... What did they do to me...?”

It was late at night. Two figures were lying on the floor of the dark cell, not being watched for the first time in a while. The guards were outside the jail sector, watching some soccer on the television.

One of the figure attempted standing up. It slowly reached for one of the beds and used it as leverage. It staggered across the room towards the other wall, where the other figure still laid on the floor, still with a tranquilizer dart on his back.

~Seems like 152B is still down. I feel a bit twisted on the insides. I hope they didn’t mix up my organs or something. My clothes seem to be different right now... softer, I guess. At least that’s a welcome change.~

A sharp tone rang on his ears, like when one of the scientists wrote on the chalkboard. He shrugged it off thinking it came from getting tranquilized. He took in a deep breath, noticing some extra smells in the surrounding, the toilet and the dishes smelling strongly.

~I should fix that later.~

He kneeled down close to the sleeping man, and started shaking him awake.

The man started to awaken, groaning, as his body slowly moved from the weird posture of his.

“They hit me with that dart again... I always hate it. What did they do to you now? Test a substance or something, again? What did they say back then?”

“I can’t remember. I just got up from getting knocked out. Haven’t really got any time to check myself... it’s kinda dark too.”

“Okay let me get the lights over there first then.” -he flicked the switch, and a few seconds later mercury vapour lamps were illuminating the whole cell again - “Erm... A, you might want to look at the mirror.”

He turned around to look at the mirror on the cell’s wall. He noticed a figure staring at him... a dog, more specifically a doberman. He waved to the mirror in disbelief, and the doberman waved back. He continued staring at the image slowly realizing what have been done to him a few hours earlier.

“They’ve turned me into a dog!!! Wh... Why dog?! Why would they want to do that to me?!”

He kept walking back and forth, mumbling the same words, trying to contain his emotions. As soon as his anger was not disturbing his thoughts, A checked whether he still had his powers of levitation. He held his hands parallel to the ground, and lifted himself slightly off the ground.

“Looks like they decided to put getting a pet for the boss to a completely new level. A pet dog, capable of flying or something. Or maybe not, since they’ll probably clear your memory once they’ve finished that project.”

“No, it can’t be! I have gotten enough of this torture, you know that as well!”

A grabbed a chair in the cell, and threw into the mirror. The glass shattered, the chair just passed right through it. A continued trashing what little furniture there was in the room, while B stared at where the mirror was.

“A, you need to take a look at this. The mirror seems to be a one way mirror. Looks like it’s an old room. Probably they used it for the former occupants of this sector.”

A turned around, throwing what was left of another chair, and walked next to his partner. The two gazed into the distance.

“Look, A, it’s an escape hatch, or something! We could probably get straight to the surface through that.”

B checked the doorway of the jail, the guards haven’t noticed the ruckus inside the cell. The two crawled through the tight hole, staying as silent as possible. They eventually reached for the hatch, opened it and starts climbing up to the surface.

“Hey, A, you seem to be handling your new body pretty well. I should probably call you Fluffy, since, you know, you’re all flu-”

“Stop that! That isn’t funny at all; We WILL return here in the future and get my body back. I don’t want to be stuck in this body forever! Oh, great, I even have this silly stubby tail!”

“Nice, can you wag it?” - a loud growling suggested B to finally end making a joke out of what happened - “We’d better get some new names for us. It will be weird if I call you A and you call me 152B in outer world. I’ll call myself... uhm... Emmerich Faust!” Stopping his climb to have a quick breath. “And I’ll call you Alfons Faust, so that people will not be so skeptical.”

“No! I don’t want to be directly associated to your crazy head! I’ll be Alfons... Meister. Heard that name on the radio that guards were listening to”

“Okay, if you say so, fluffy do-”

Repeating growling of a dog was completely overshadowed by the loud sirens, started by the opening hatch. They ran off towards the nearby woods, hiding, until they could seek refuge somewhere else.

---

Alfons, woken up by a beeping sound. He reached for the alarm clock but it wasn’t ringing. He started stretched his back, preparing to stand up from his bed, just as the beeping sound stopped.

“Hey Al, get up! I think we’ve got it.”

The doberman, intrigued, got up after his bad night’s sleep. He looked across the room, to see nothing new but the man staring at the computer screen.

“What do you mean, Rick? We have too many alarms set, what is that one for?”

“We’ve acquired the software. After all those hard work, we’ve found it!”

The doberman looked at the rest of the electronics in the room. They had the plans of the hardware earlier but have never really found the software to make it working until now.

“Thank rain... So, we can get started with the change of plans? Plan B, I guess. We have all the hardware and the software in here, and just need that person.”

“That would be easy... Nothing a bit of waiting can’t do...”

NOWMOSTOFIMPORTANTCHARACTERSAREHERE

Okay, once again - thanks for reading, and let's hope noone will torture Gecko (because I'm obviously uninvolved) for another "this was a dream" part, despite the fact that it was plot-relevant this time.

_________________Yes, that is about the best thing to write that I could think of.

Tue Jun 25, 2013 5:38 am

copper

Puppy Wrangler

Joined: Tue Sep 28, 2010 8:18 pmPosts: 6362Location: Florida

Re: Temporal Coincidences

You may want to look through them both for spelling and grammar issues...

I see, so a dog that was human. Much like King!

So three experiments? Also, super powers?

_________________My charactersEverybody has a story to tell. What's yours?

The train arrived to the station in Perm in the morning - around 8-30, just according to the schedule. Some passengers got off it literally as soon as the doors were unlocked by conductors - most of them wanted to go back home already, and some had to fully regain consciousness after the party that lasted through most of the night, despite the fact that most of the party-goers left earlier than expected.

Grey was among these unlucky ones. He woke up, as soon as the train stopped its monotonous ride to the West, and looked around. There was a small sheet of paper from Dmitri’s notebook and a half bitten sandwich he got from the party. He could already smell that it was the ham and egg - exactly the same as to what he was about to eat on the party, before he actually fell asleep.

He quickly ate it, and looked up. Dmitri was still sleeping.

~I guess that’s how I looked when he woke me up in Habarovsk... Well, I think he might want to hear that from my point of view now...~

He was about to cry “Brunolf, we have a problem!”, but was quickly interrupted by the noise he heard from the intercom. It was just quietly humming some tunes from the local radio stations before. The static soon became something that could be recognised as a human voice, after getting used to the unusual way it was distorted in.

[Ladies and gentlemen, due to technical problems on the train, we will have to stay in Perm for two more hours. Our new departure time is 11-00. We apologise for this inconvenience.]

It was surprising how loud that small old speaker could get when someone was talking through the intercom. Grey even doubted his ability to shout louder. Dmitri, however, had no need to question the fact that he had been awakened, as the speaker was right above his head.

“Wha... What was that?!”-Brunolf was looking around himself in panic, trying to find the device that woke him up in such a harsh way.

“Please, Brunolf, don’t make me go to the conductor and ask him to repeat everything just because you didn’t hear the message”

“Ha-ha” - he really tried to look sarcastic, but it was a difficult task to do with half-closed eyes and a tired quiet voice - “But really, what did they say?”

“We’re stuck on this station for 2 more hours than expected. If I were you I’d get out of this tin box for a while and walk around the city. It will be more interesting than sitting here for two more days, don’t you think?”

“Well.... Maybe you’re right... I’ve never heard anything about the local sights, but maybe that will make finding them more interesting. At least more interesting than sitting inside this train, anyway.”

Ten minutes later they were already walking across the overpass towards the station’s building, and then into the city. They were welcomed by the small quiet street, built just for serving the railway that was surrounded by track from one side and a tiny park on the other. Having no particular plan on what to do, they decided to go across it and see where they’ll end up.

Quite soon they were facing another railway line, and on the other side a busier street was getting closer and closer until they were going parallel to each other, divided with just a concrete fence and a few small trees. They crossed the street and walked along it for a while, looking for something interesting. It’s hard to say that they were successful - the mostly had to go by houses, built to look alike, or by grocery stores and other small shops. Dmitri got some water for himself and Grey in one of them, but other than that - they were quite unlucky.

A few minutes later they decided to finally start enjoying their longer-than-expected walk, and turned into the smaller street, which was surprisingly quiet... Or at least it was, before they’ve reached a square, that seemed to be a central one in the city. It was mostly just a big park, surrounded by newer high-rise buildings from three sides, and by a theater and a few souvenir shops on the fourth.They bought a couple of magnets, showing a beautiful view on the river in the summer, and decided to run in a park for a while. Or, it was mostly Grey running around, and Dmitri trying not to get lost. In just a few more minutes, he couldn’t find the husky anywhere. It was nearly 9-30, which obviously made the man worried. He kept searching for the dog along the paths, and after that he got ready to look for him among the trees and snow of the park - that slightly reminded him the walk through the forest in China.What made this walk in the park even more similar was that in a moment Dmitri was lying, with his face covered with snow, and Grey was standing on him with the happiest grin ever since that time.

“Got you! How could you even possibly lose the sight of me, this place is not that big!”

“No idea. But” - Dmitri tried to spit out the snow that got into his mouth and was freezing his tongue - “I thought you’ll tell me about it more politely.”

“That’s not fun! And you seem to be bothered with something all the time. Brunolf, don’t even try saying that it didn’t cheer you up even slightly!”

“I don’t know...” - he replied, while grabbing some moist snow - ~But I know what to do next~

One moment later, a snowball flew right into Grey.

“But now I’m definitely happier!”

“Snowball fight? Well, it was you who started it, and don’t say you were not warned!”

“But... You--”

Brunolf never got the chance to finish whatever he wanted to say, but at least he managed to dodge the first snow-made projectile.Nearly an hour later, they were walking back towards the station, with some juice, crackers, and a lot of snow on the fur of the husky and the clothes of the man. Twenty minutes and a lot of explanations about what happened to them for the conductor later the two were sitting in the compartment - wet from melting snow, but entertained, and ready for the final legs of the train route.

---Any guesses on what will happen next? No? Just wait for File 10. XP

Maria was sleeping in the train’s compartment when she heard the door close. Only now she noticed that the train has just stopped at the station in Perm. Sam had just left the room and seemed to be planning on getting out of the train in the meantime.

~Seems like somebody’s having a trip to the outside world. Nice idea!~

The cat stood up and stretched her front paws first, then her back. She hopped off her bed and walked out of the train.

The bright morning sun shined straight at her eyes. A few birds, always present at the squares, flew through the skies as the wind blew west. The passengers still were crowding the platform, as most of them kept greeting their friends and relatives. She noticed the man she was looking for in the crowd, and he was walking towards the edge of the station. She followed him, trying hard at keeping roughly five meter gap in between them.

~Just keep walking, just keep walking, just keep walking, walking, walking, Sam! What do we do? We walk, walk, walk...~

She climbed up to the ceiling and jumped through a number of beams to avoid getting seen by hurrying Sam. They eventually reached an empty section of the station, next to one of the halls that were still closed for renovations. Sam looked around suspiciously and took out his phone. He dialed the number he learned by heart long time ago, and waited for the answer.

“Heheh, okay, I was just kidding, don’t fire me for that. I know you’re all powerful over there in Germany but... We’re friends, right?”Cat’s paw landed on her muzzle, with fur dampening the slap sound. Probably, whoever answered the phone did pretty much the same thing.

“Enough jokes, got that. Back to business, then. I have a plan to abduct the subject. Our next big stop is at Nizhny Novgorod. He has that husky companion, which might become a problem for the operation. So after observing them for a few days...”

~Several days? Really? You’ve only seen them once in the party!~

“...I’m sure that I can lead them to a quiet restaurant over there and get the husky knocked out. The extraction crew then will be able to secure the Subject! … Oh, husky? We can just leave him there, we need no other problems or incidents.”

Sam stood silent for around a minute, listening to the lengthy reply.

“Okay, thanks for preparing the support for me. I’ll keep informing you on the current situation, then.”

The man ended the call and started typing on his phone. Soon the short message was sent, and Sam hurried back to the exit.

“Hopefully they have all I need in this town...” - he mumbled to himself, before getting back into the crowd. Maria followed him, as she did before, trying her best in hiding from Sam. It seems to work, since he was sticking to what looked like his original plan, and he went shopping for “some supplies”.

Both were too busy to notice the other stranger, who was getting through the crowd with a couple of quiet excuses, sticking to shadows, and waiting for the perfect moment to initiate his own plan.

We're updating the story to include maps of the places, cities and routes for your convenience.I have already updated the first one Brunolf's Travels and we'll be posting some more when the time comes.

And here we are, extending a concept of "few" as much as it's possible on the way to at least attempted storytelling.

File 8: Time is Ticking

Four hours later...

Sam was in his compartment sitting on his bed and writing something in a piece of paper. The cat watched him from the overhead bin, spying from the top of the baggage compartment. She recalled her earlier conversation with the CNS a few minutes, before the train was leaving Perm, planning further actions.

“Please, await your clearance.” Her call was placed on a temporary hold, with a simple tune playing in the background. “Good Afternoon Agent Maria Kovrova. What is your request?”

“I want to request assistance in Nizhny Novgorod. My surveillance has revealed that my subject, Sam, has some sort of plan to abduct his ‘Subject’. I might be incapable of handling surveillance and possible conflict myself.”

“Ok, I’ll check.” A shorter pause, but now with just the knock of the phone getting dropped onto the table was heard. “Sorry, but it seems that most of the men in the area are focused at another mission. Apparently, they’re trying to secure their target once he reaches Moscow. We are unable to provide any support for you right now. I’m sorry, Agent Kovrova.”

“It’s not a problem, then. I will try handling it myself.”

-

She continued staring at the man, trying to read the words written on the piece of paper. But as she was about to start interpreting the words, Sam stood up and left the compartment. The cat promptly followed him carefully.

~Deja vu!~

---

Sam walked two doors down the car, still thinking of the plan.

~Seems foolproof enough. Pretty much nothing but extreme natural disaster can stop this, and I doubt planning for apocalyptic scenarios would be fun this time around. By the way, I wonder where that cat went, I never saw her in the compartment ever since the train left Perm. Did she really decide to let me go?~

He looked around the train, checking whether somebody was following him, then looked back at the letter he has written and double checked it for any obvious mistakes.

[Dear friends! Thank you for attending our previous party, it was a huge success! We would like to invite all of you again to the restaurant in N. Novgorod, on Marata street, by 12 noon tomorrow. It has a picturesque riverside view of the city. Feel free to go there ahead of us and start ordering and eating, if you don’t feel like walking around the city. We might be late by a couple of minutes, so keep that in mind. A Friend.]

~That’s it, I guess.~

Sam inserted the letter underneath the door of Dmitri’s compartment and headed back for his room.

~This mission is about to end soon.~ he thought, grinning in joy, anticipating the eventual success of his mission.

---

Grey and Dmitri were trying to search for something interesting to listen on the radio in their compartment, that finally started working after the last stop in Perm. It was a difficult task, as they mostly heard either some more repetitive songs than those on the party (just when they’ve thought that it’s hard to get more annoying than that!), or commercials in between them. Annoying ones, like “Now you’re invited to the Party of the Dead (in fascinatingly realistic 3D! In all cinemas of your city!)” or “Chernov Networking Systems - see the future of telecommunications TODAY!”. Even trying to play with controversy of these ads failed at at least slightly occupying travellers’ minds.

“Well, I guess it’s better to keep that thing off for a while and just to look at the window. Maybe I can order some tea or coffee. Would you like some, Grey?”

Before the husky could reply to anything, a small white sheet of folded paper appeared under the door. Grey unfolded it, and read it to Dmitri, while he was opening the door and looking outside for the person who left the note. The corridor was already empty - the one who wrote the letter definitely wanted to stay unknown for them.

“Hey, Brunolf! It’s an invitation!”“Really?”“Yes, it’s going to be another party in the restaurant tomorrow!”

“Sounds interesting... Just, please, don’t fall asleep before the end of the party. It would be both embarrassing and difficult to get you back to the station. And, by the way, is it signed by anyone?”

“Erm... ‘A Friend’. Sounds like either a bad joke or a really rare surname, as I’ve never heard of it.”

“And I don’t think I know someone else on this train... Well, we’ll see tomorrow who this ‘Friend’ is. I’ll go and get us some tea, and what about getting back to looking for something interesting to listen to as soon as I get back?”

“Sounds fine. Just don’t turn the radio with all the ads back on, okay? I’m getting tired of imagining living in an ideal world where everything’s the best and works perfectly”

Dmitri turned back to the husky, smiled, and opened the door again. No one appeared in the corridor and so he went to the water boiler, telling himself to stop thinking of this ‘Friend’ before the party actually starts. It was a nice way of spend a few hours of staying in the city, and, possibly, making a couple of new friends. Unless they would have to leave too early again, of course.

When he came back with two glasses of tea, Grey was already fighting with radio, looking for something interesting again, switching stations one after another. As soon as he saw the man enter the compartment, he turned it off completely, and sat down at the table.

“Grey, listen” - said Dmitri while sipping some tea - “I’ve just remembered a small card trick a friend of mine showed me a couple of months ago... If you have a deck of cards, I may try showing it to you.”

“I’m sure I don’t have any...”

“Me too... Okay then, wait here, and I’ll ask the conductor if we can get some.”

He came back in a few minutes with a slightly old and worn deck.

“Alright, I’ve managed to get some.” - he shuffled the cards, and then put them down on the table - “Pick any card you want. Take a look on it, but don’t tell me which one it is.”

Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 2:48 amPosts: 1497Location: The land of the dulce de leche!

Re: Temporal Coincidences

copper Wrote:

Please orient your map! That thing was upside down!

Hmmm, so Sam and the kitty are working for the same organization? Weird how they do not know that...

Moderating so many fanfics at the same time can put a strain on your memory. The kitty is working for an opposite organization, which I presume to be the same one that allowed Dmitri to escape North Korea.

_________________20th century fox? Given that this is the year 2015, that fox must be dead by now. Sadface! : (

I'm telling you, hyenas ARE canines too! Many biologists died to bring us this information! Why won't you honor their deaths?! What I did to their families?!

Sun Jun 30, 2013 2:44 am

copper

Puppy Wrangler

Joined: Tue Sep 28, 2010 8:18 pmPosts: 6362Location: Florida

Re: Temporal Coincidences

Oh, I remember, just the huge coincidence there got me thinking... this last update.

_________________My charactersEverybody has a story to tell. What's yours?

After a long night of sleeplessness from all the excitement, Sam finally got his whole day’s rest quota fulfilled and woke up. It was 9:30 am. He was greeted by the bright sun shining through the uncovered windows, which temporarily blinded him. His eyes adjusted to the brightness and he noticed something... something different. The landscape appeared to have gotten a bit greener, signalling the coming of spring.

-“Hey! You’re finally awake!”

Sam didn’t expect the cat’s voice. He forgot about his annoying and, hopefully, VERY hopefully, temporary partner. He looked at the cat, and she stared back at him with an uncanny smile, which unsettled him as something fierce.

-“Maria, don’t do that! I don’t want to get a heart attack while I am still this young.”

-“Yes... ‘young,’ he says, yet he’s still the oldest person in the whole place.”- Said the sly kitty, with her ever matching smile. -”I’m hungry, can we go get some food in the buffet car? We’ll reach the next stop in two hours, I’m thinking of trying their fish basket deluxe set meal.”

The sole mention of this mouthful, both metaphorically and literally, of a menu was enough to make Sam groan in stress, concern, tiredness, and a sovereign pain in the wallet. -“Not that again! You always eat that every lunchtime, and you always get that smell on you after eating it!”

Eventually, as you would no doubt expect, Sam declined to the demands of the gentle gender, the two went out of the room and the man went to the bathroom to freshen up. He made a short phone call to check the team’s preparation at the restaurant. Their reply was clear: They were ready for the operation. They found themselves standing by for him and the Subject to arrive. Samuel placed his phone back into his pocket and left of the bathroom, ready for what was about to throw down.

Both cat and the overrated operative continued to the buffet car, and, as per usual, ordered some particularly heavy food. Sam, for once, didn’t mind about the budget such delicacies would demand, for he felt very confident; With all the preparations he’d made, all the commitment he had imposed on himself, and all the focus he had placed upon hunting down his target... What could possibly go wrong?

---

The train slowed down to a halt at the central station of Nizhny Novgorod around 11:30 in the morning, local time. It was not the usual time for most passengers to depart for Moscow, or arrive back home from other cities, so, for the first time in a long while, Dmitri was able to enjoy the sight of a nearly empty metropolitan station, which would otherwise be crawling with people of all walks of life, rushing to get someplace or another...

Another interesting change, compared to the landscapes he witnessed in Siberia and Urals, was the climate. He came to notice that, despite having long left the mountainous terrain behind. The concrete platform was all black from water, which was streaming down from piles of what used to be white, moisty and pleasant snow. He could finally feel that the spring was coming now.

~Too bad I’m not writing a novel about this “Brunolf” character, but actually have to pose as him... All this spring and sunshine and warmth - they could have been a really good metaphor for his life getting better with every single kilometer he moved further away him from the horrors of last week’s great escape.~

-“Hey, Brunolf, what are you thinking about now? Come on, we’ll be late for the party! We still have to find that restaurant!” - Grey said loudly, not even trying to hide or temper his excitement about the upcoming event. And who could blame him, being such a source of entertainment for someone of his character?

The two left the station’s main building, and walked down the only street that matched the description in the letter, all the while avoiding the midday traffic. They passed by the bridge, and finally saw the small building next to the embankment.

-“Grey, it’s just 11:40, we’re still on time! Stop running, you dog!, At least wait for me!!!”

Unfortunately for Dmitri, the now overly excited husky no longer cared, insensitive as he was, about making sure his companion could keep up the pace. He was just too worried about missing all the fun they could have there. All the new faces, talks and gossips, maybe even the music that wasn’t as repetitive as it was on the train... He rushed faster still towards the door...

And realized that he had been the first to arrive.

-“You see, there... was no need to... hurry that much... Grey.” - Brunolf caught up with the surprised dog at the expense of being left panting heavily and ending up terribly exhausted before the party even started.

-“Well, that means we can order whatever we want now!”

-“Just don’t fall asleep... right now. I won’t be able... to carry you back for... the next few hours.”

-“You talk like you have to do it every day.”

-“Still too often not to get concerned. OK, nevermind that, sometimes I can be unbearable. You want some soda?”

They sat down at a small table that had been placed next to the counter, and Dmitri began studying the drinks that were being served that day.

---This is so small that I can spoil anything here without anyone noticing it. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! A couple of Housepets characters will appear in the next file.

Sam glanced at his watch. It was 11:20 am, and he still needed to prepare to go to the restaurant to begin with the operation. He paid for the breakfast’s substantial bill and started walking towards his room to get the equipment, inadvertently forgetting his company card in the counter. Maria noticed the card and quickly grabbed it before her companion could notice.

Maria hid the card in her collar, and began to run behind the man, eventually catching up. She jumped slightly ahead of him, not wanting Sam to stray too far from her.

-“Hey, you seem to be a bit excited there! Are you going somewhere?”

-“No, I just forgot to get something from the room.”

~Are you sure about that? You seem to be forgetting something else, like a card, for starters.~ -“Hey! You shouldn’t play games with me, I know it when you lie.”

Maria was still taking the lead as they both ran back to their room when suddenly, while halfway through one of the cars, one of the compartment doors opened . The two didn’t seem to notice and just passed by it.

Or, at least, Maria did.

A hand from the door grabbed Sam and gagged him with a chloroform-soaked cloth. Sam, taken by surprise was not able to struggle and was hurriedly pulled back inside the compartment as he fell into unconsciousness by another set of hands. The door was shut as quietly and rapidly as it had been opened.

It took Maria a few seconds to realize that she was now running by herself, as she any footsteps or doors closing behind her. As soon as she realized the target she was meant to supervise was gone, she came close to panic, but immediately set herself towards searching for him.

-“Hey! Sam, where are you!? You know how I hate your dumb games! I’ll tell them everything if you don’t come out!”

She continued searching all around the train. Going from one end to the other, holding on to the faint glimmer of hope that Sam’s plans wouldn’t start without her. She was sure that he couldn’t have left the car, which reassured her to continue searching.

---

Inside the dimly lit room, the preparations were finally over. A voice echoed through it:

-“Let the transfer commence in three... two... one...”

A bright light flashed through the devices scattered around the room, allowing for a faint smile to be seen in the dark.

We have a special message for everyone who could have gotten confused in the storyline already.You're going to hate us. Probably.

===File 10: A Dog-Gone Fix: An Open Letter to JoelificationBecause... Why not?!In an infinitely large and dark space, three figures sat around a huge table, with an assortment of different, unrelated objects that could hardly be identified by the human eye, or even mind, scattered all around it.

-“Hey Dragon! Want to play a new round of U&U?”

-“No! You always cheat! You never follow the rules we’ve set!”

-“WE’ have set them!? You’re the one making those rules!”

-“Okay, maybe I was kind of making that up, but still, you always cheat!”

-“Hey guys... we seem to have an observer here...” Interrupted the third, seemingly inattentive one.

The three figures paused and looked at the observer, staring.

-“Why, hello there!, I would love to tell you how it is that you were able to come and pay visit us a visit, a long story that would be.”, said a white figure, which appeared to be little more than silhouette with big, sly smile upon what appeared to be a muzzle. “But first, I need you to wake up!”- The silhouette gesticulated what appeared to be a flick of it’s fingers, which was soon followed why a sudden, loud, and outright huge...

Explosion!

---

Sam awakened from his weird dream. As he did so, he noticed that he was lying down on the train’s floor. He briefly stood up and looked at his surroundings, his ears tingling.

~Why do I feel so weird? Like I my body’s been twisted or something? And where is that cat?, She was accompanying me when I was uhm... wait... What happened!?~

At very moment, the door at the end of the car opened. The cat, Maria, entered into the train car and approached Sam. She seemed strangely a bit hesitant to get close to him, for a moment, much to Sam’s amusement, but she slowly moved up to a few feet in front of him.

-“Hey! Dog, have you seen a man, an American, called Sam? I was accompanied by him during that party the other day? I remember seeing you in there, so I was pretty sure that you saw him.”

~Huh? Dog? What is she talking about?~ Sam thought to himself, confused. -“Maria! What are you talking about? I’m Sam!”

The cat did not seem amused at all by that remark. She stared at “Sam” and tilted her head a bit, wondering whether he had gone nuts or was just trying to make some bad jest.

-“Nice one there, but I’m pretty sure Sam was a human and not a dog. I haven’t been imagining him as a man in the past few days now, was I? Stop playing around and tell me if you know where Sam is!”

Sam, clearly stressed out and honestly confused with his current situation, was about to talk back to the cat. But he realized something was clearly wrong, based on the cat’s words.

-“What do you mean I am a dog?! I’m clearly huma-”

Just then, Sam noticed his reflection in the glass door, if that reflection could really be considered “his”, anyway. It did not seem human at all. It was a dog, a doberman to be precise... a doberman that he now remembered seeing before.

~Isn’t this Alfons?~ Thought Sam, in sudden realization, which was quickly overwhelmed by a sheer rush of bewilderment. -“What happened to me! Why am I a dog!!!?”

-“You obviously are a dog, just like I’m obviously a cat.”

-“No, but I’m really Sam! Look. Cat... err... Maria, I’m Sam! I met you when I was calling someone in the train and I accidentally stepped on your tail while you were spying on me behind one of the mail bags. I was about to throw you off the train but you threatened to reveal my secret if I did. We eventually went to the buffet car and bought some food there, you threatened me again to pay for your food. After that, you took over the bed on the other side of my compartment. What else do you want me to say?”- He interrupted himself, feeling a sudden sensation coming from the lower end of his, and turn around to look at himself, and see... -“I even have a short stubby tail!”- Sam exclaimed in utter disbelief, now panting.

Maria was speechless. How was it possible for Sam to be inside a dog’s body? It was like something straight out of a science-fiction work, the kind of stuff that you could only see in books, movies and maybe comic books. Or like the stories she had been reading on the internet, a funny yet disturbing twist of fate for anyone, to be sure. Was this one of those fanfictions that go really wrong at some point in the plot?

-“Uhmm... so, if you’re Sam, then what happened to your body? I was searching for you for about 30 minutes. I thought that you had somehow escaped me without me noticing, but I couldn’t find any traces of you getting out of the train.”

-“Wait! I’ve been out for thirty minutes?”

-“Yes, it’s already 11:55 am.”

-“The mission!”

Sam now truly began to panic. He looked at the cat, staring at her for a while, then hurriedly rushed out of the train. He got out the station and crossed through the main boulevard, the restaurant. standing at it’s furthermost end. He was able to run across the street until he stopped one block away from the restaurant building. Maria panted behind him, just a couple of feet away, exhausted from the unexpected chase.

-“You sure are fast and oddly well adapted to that body!, It’s actually harder to catch up to you now.”

Sam paid no heed to the cat’s remarks. He swiftly passed by the front of the restaurant and ran towards the back door. The cat sighed at the dog’s apparent lack of acknowledgement, as she did not at all enjoy being ignored. She composed herself and followed Sam as he rushed through the side of the restaurant.

---

-“Oh look, I see Maria and Al!”- A small husky, who we know all too well, pointed out, as indeed, both Maria and her doberman companion passed by the restaurant’s front window.

Grey and Brunolf were having a couple of appetizers, served to them by the shop owner, who was friendly enough to offer them some for free.

-“Did you meet them during the party?”

-“Yes!, Al seems to be kind of a shy dog. His owner- err... partner told me that giving him some orange soda could cheer him up, and Maria is the one who threw the party in the first place. She also passed me some sandwiches, I think. Though I’m not really sure, since I was danci- uhm... too hungry at that time.”

-“Hungry? Or do you mean dancing? What happened to you on that party, anyway?, You were supposed to get us a couple of sandwiches but I found you knocked out in the other end of the train with several cups and a sandwich. Tell me.”

Grey immediately regretted seeing the two pets passing by the window...

BRICKTHROINGATGECKOCOMMENCESIN3...2...1...

I promise, everything will make sense. Eventually.

_________________Yes, that is about the best thing to write that I could think of.

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